Ardscoil Rís make it three from three in Harty Cup group stages after dominant win over Ballincollig:
By Siadbh Redmond Limerick Leader Sport
ARDSCOIL Rís have topped group two of the Dr Harty Cup U19 hurling competition with a dominant 9-22 to 2-13 victory over Ballincollig in Mallow this Wednesday afternoon.
This makes it three wins from three in the group stages for table toppers Ardscoil Ris following their earlier victories over Our Ladys Templemore and Castletroy College.
Ardscoil have now booked their place in the quarter-finals of the competition on January 8.
Niall Crowe’s side started the slower of the two teams, but nine goals from his forwards solidified the eye-catching result.
Ballincollig opened the scoring in Mallow with full-forward Niall Buckley striking a lovely shot off his left after just 42 seconds.
On the next play, Ardscoil worked the ball to forward Michael Collins who interlinked well with John O’Keeffe, whose goal shot was bravely saved by the Cork school’s goalie. However, the rebound fell to Eoin Begley, who made no mistake with his shot to the back of the net.
The Limerick school extended their lead with a fabulous ’65 slotted over by Begley. This lead was short-lived, however, as Ballincollig’s Niall Buckley fired the ball into the net to level the game on four minutes.
With two dramatic goals at either end of the field, both sides exchanged points before Ballincollig got going with midfielder Cillian Power slotting an easy sore over the crossbar followed by a free from Eoin Dywer.
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Begley was the only scorer for the North Circular Road side in the opening ten minutes as he added another point to his tally. The Cork school did well to put Ardscoil Rís’ forwards under pressure in the opening quarter as they shot four wides.
A third pointed free from Begley saw Ardscoil down by a single point after 12 minutes of action, 1-4 to 1-5. After that blistering start for Ballincollig, the Limerick school began to find space in the defence with Conor Ryan sending a ball into Sean Arthur, who was able to turn his marker easily, before rifling his shot into the back of the net for their second goal of the contest.
Despite this goal, Ballincollig never stopped battling with Eoin O’Dwyer sending over two frees to level the game after 18 minutes.
Ardscoil’s first point from play came from Michael Collins’ hurley as the sides were level once again with Niall Buckley finding oceans of space to send over his second point.
The game went into a lull for a few minutes as a few of Ardscoil’s passes went astray. However, they burst into life once again on the 24th minute as Sean Arthur made a surging run towards the Ballincollig goal, before finding Begley on the left hand-side, who rattled the back of the net for his second goal.
With Ardscoil’s attack getting the better of their opponents, Arthur made another run at the defence, this time deciding to take on the shot himself, and succeeded in blasting the ball into the back of the net for Ardscoil’s fourth goal, pushing their lead out, 4-5 to 1-8.
Ballincollig’s Tadhg Murphy did extremely well to find a rare bit of space in the Ardscoil defence to send over their final point of the half on 26 minutes.
Last year’s Dr Harty Cup finalists, Ardscoil hit back as as Begley slotted over another free. He was then fouled after a fine catch, resulting in a penalty, in which he took himself moving his scoring tally up to 3-5.
The Limerick side slotted over a further two more points from play to end the half, 5-8 to 1-9.
With Eoin Begley off for the second-half, his replacement Patrick Kearney took over the free-taking duties and making no mistake with Ardscoil’s first point of the half.
This opening effort was complimented by a long range free from Adare’s Darragh Gleeson, to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Patrick Kearney was impressive after his entry to the game at half-time, not only taking over free-taking duties, but also scoring from play, slotting over three unanswered points for Ardscoil, to push them, ahead 5-13 to 1-9.
Ardscoil seemed to find another gear in the middle portion of the second half as both Michael Collins and Kearney netted goals.
Ballincollig finally got their opening score of the second half through Niall Buckley. A dominant Ardscoil side hit back with a blitz of scores to storm further clear of their Cork opponents.
Kearney sent a further two points over the bar from play. The Adare forward looked sharp in attack and had certainly put his name forward for the starting 15 of the Ardscoil team after his performance.
Eoin O’Dwyer continued to battle for Ballincollig as he won a penalty for his side to reduce the deficit. However, back came Ardscoil as Michael Collins found himself totally free on the other end to fire home his second goal.
Ardscoil added four more points from play as Sean Arthur completed his hat-trick of goals to give Ardscoil a resounding 9-22 to 2-12 win.
SCORERS: ARDSCOIL RÍS: Eoin Begley 3-5 (0-3 frees, 0-1 65′), Sean Arthur 3-1, Patrick Kearney 1-8 (0-4 frees), Michael Collins 2-3, Darragh Gleeson 0-2 (0-1 free), Cillian Murphy, Oisin O’Byrne, Ronan Benson 0-1 each. COLAISTE CHOILM BALLINCOLLIG: Niall Buckley 1-3, Eoin O’Dwyer 1-5 (0-3 frees, 0-1 65′), Cillian Power, Alan Heelan, Tadhg Murphy, Cian O’Connor 0-1 each
ARDSCOIL RÍS: Darragh Jordan (Na Piarsaigh), Conor Ryan (Adare), Sean Morrissey (C) (Dromin-Athlacca), Adam Fitzsimons (Na Piarsaigh), Ronan Benson (Na Piarsaigh), Jack Cosgroce (Ahane), Darragh Gleeson (Adare), Conor Ryan (Ahane), Malachy McKenna (Pallasgreen), Sean Arthur (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Oisin O’Byrne (Crecora), Michael Collins (Clonlara), John O’Keefe (Murroe-Boher), Cillian Murphy (Sixmilebridge), Eoin Begley (Clonlara) SUBS: Patrick Kearney (Adare) for E Begley (Half-Time), Evan Ryan (South Liberties) for O O’Byrne (34 minutes), Sean Fitzgearld (Murroe-Boher) for A Fitzsimons (42 minutes), Eoin Brosnan (Na Piarsaigh) for J Cosgrove (42 minutes), Ian O’Brien (Cratloe) for D Gleeson (46 minutes).
COLAISTE CHOILM BALLINCOLLIG: Donnchadh Murphy, Shane O’Callaghan, Colm Herlihy, Jack Murphy, Kevin O’Leary, Darragh Clifford, Alan Heelan, Cillian Power, Cian Ahern, Cian O’Connor, Danny Miskelle, Eoin O’Dwyer, Tadhg Murphy, Niall Buckley, Ciaran O’Donoghue SUBS: Ciaran Ward for S O’Callaghan (39 minutes), Oisin Power for C O’Donoghue (53 minutes), Adam Kennedy T Murphy (55 minutes), Conor Leisk for C Herlihy (57 minutes).